Why Choice Voting?
FAIR VOTE LOWELL
CHOICE VOTING
Lowell's Current System: Winner Take All
Lowell currently has a voting system that is known as “at-Large, winner-take-all.” At-large simply means that candidates are not confined to a specific district or area of the city. Instead, when they run for office they are elected by voters across the entire city.
Winner-take-all (also called plurality voting) refers to the method of voting. Right now, when voters go to the polls, they have nine votes for city council because nine candidates are elected. Voters also have six votes for school committee because six candidates are elected. However, although voters have nine votes for city council, not more than one vote can go to an individual candidate. The same holds true for the six votes that each voter has for school committee.
In the winner-take-all system, each vote counts exactly the same and there is no way for voters to give preference for the candidates they like the most. Because of this, many voters only use some of their votes and waste the rest because they are afraid that by using all of their votes they could negatively impact their favorite candidates. In fact, in Lowell, the average voter uses only five votes and wastes the remaining four.
When at-large is combined with winner-take-all, the result is usually an elected body that resembles 51% of the voters and provides little or no representation for the other 49%.
A Slice of Pepperoni, Please
Think of it like this: Six friends get together for pizza. Three of them want cheese, two want pepperoni, and one of them wants onion. If they voted on the kind of pizza to get using a Winner take All system, the entire pizza would be cheese because that’s what the majority wants! It’s not fair or democratic, and it’s entirely unnecessary because better options exist that can meet the needs of everyone!
Friends will usually do what they can to get a pizza where everyone gets what they want. If they used choice voting, half the pizza would be cheese, two slices would be pepperoni, and one slice would be onion.
The same thing is true of the voting system in Lowell, where the majority of voters get what they want but, due to the winner-take-all system that is used, they get everything and the rest of the voters don’t get anything! While other options exist, choice voting presents the greatest opportunity for the city council to look like the electorate!
Voter and Candidate Turnout ... or Burnout?
When voters go to the polls, year after year, and their favorite candidates never get elected, they start to feel like their vote doesn’t matter. They may return to the polls a few times, but eventually they just give up. Candidates, too, are impacted by the winner-take-all system because those who come from neighborhoods with more ineligible voters, or represent a constituency or interest group with more ineligible voters, will have a hard time getting elected and after a while, will quit trying.
In addition, fewer candidates will run for office, knowing how hard it is to get elected. In fact, that is exactly what has happened in Lowell. Read more about Voter Turnout.
Like the Winner take All system, Choice Voting respects the wishes of the majority – but, it ALSO respects the wishes of the minority. Why would anyone want to stay with a voting system where only the majority of voters get what they want? Just as friends would be willing to divide up a pizza so everyone can get what they want, shouldn’t we be willing to do the same thing for our fellow Lowell voters?
Bias Against Minorities
Finally, it is important to note that of the 10 largest cities in the Commonwealth, only Lowell and Fall River continue to use an at large, winner take all voting system. This system was outlawed for federal elections to the House of Representatives in 1967. While it is not prohibited for local elections, most cities in Massachusetts have moved away from it because of its bias against minority voters. Some cities have changed on their own while others changed due to lawsuits or the threat of lawsuits. Learn more about voting trends in Massachusetts.
